Four Shades of Gray
by Azurite
Summary: What you don't know can't hurt you, right? Just one ordinary day in class, everyone makes a startling revelation about someone they *thought* they knew...
1. Mist

Four Shades of Gray  
  
Part 1: Mist  
  
A Ranma ½ Fanfiction by Azurite  
  
sailor_andromida@yahoo.com  
  
http://www.geocities.com/azurite_moon  
  
11.15.01 - Total layout update coming soon!  
  
Got updates? azurite_updates@yahoogroups.com  
  
Please note: This fanfiction contains some realistic portrayals of sexual activity, but is in NO way a lemon. It is a highly dramatic, angst-scented fic. and a romance in the future. Just to warn you. It is rated PG-13. If you're not mature and/or under 13, please do not read this. Domo.  
  
**************************************************************************** ********  
  
"Today we are very lucky to have a speaker for our current health education lessons. When she was younger, she was the victim of rape, and she is here today to tell us her story." Miss Hinako, substituting for all of Ranma and Akane's classes that day, gestured broadly to the rear center of the room. The majority of the students turned in their chair, expecting to see some middle-aged woman in a business suit, a trembling smile on her face.  
  
Rather, when their gazes met with open air, and they turned back to the front of the classroom, they were stunned -especially Ranma- to see Akane Tendo walking to the front of the classroom, placing her hands on the front desk, and staring out at them with a melancholy expression on her face.  
  
"When I was 14 years old, I was raped."  
  
For the first time in what seemed like forever, the class was silent. Eyes were riveted to the youngest Tendo girl. The aquamarine eyes of her semi-rival, semi-friend, Ukyo Kuonji, met Akane's dead on. But in everyone's eyes were signs of surprise, and a bit of fright. Their own friend, Akane. raped? When she was only 14? It was the kind of thing that just didn't happen-not here, not in Nerima. Tokyo was safe. And Akane. she was a martial artist. Born, bred, and raised that way. how could.?  
  
"It's the kind of thing that jars you from a fairy-tale lifestyle, and brings you to reality. There are bad people out there. Some are bad by nature, others just don't know any better. You guys are probably thinking, 'How in the world could Akane let that happen to her? Isn't she supposed to be a martial artist?' Well, yes, I am. I wasn't very serious about the Arts back then. I was a bit foolish, and more than a little egotistical. It may be pessimistic of me to say this, but in everything you do, there is always someone out there, just a little better than you. The person who raped me was better than me-and I didn't have the willpower to fight back."  
  
**************************************************************************** ********  
  
It was nearly sunset when Akane and Ranma finally walked back home. They were at least a third of the way there when Ranma stopped his normal balancing trot on the fence-top, his hands shoved deep into his pockets, his face grim and serious. It was an expression that looked out of place on his face, normally boastful, full of confidence and pride, or righteous anger and indignity.  
  
"Akane?" Ranma finally voiced. Akane stopped walking and looked up at her fiancée-in-name.  
  
"Yeah, what is it Ranma?"  
  
It took him a minute to find the words, but when they came, they sounded hurt.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?"  
  
  
  
Dinner later that night was relatively quiet. Nabiki and Kasumi apparently knew that Akane had been due to discuss her tumultuous past in class that day, and made no comments. Soun, likewise, was eerily silent. Ranma ate his food slowly. Things tasted different when you had a different perspective on someone you thought you knew.  
  
The pigtailed aqua-transsexual chanced a look at his fiancée. For the first time, he didn't see a horrible, black-thumbed cook, or a halfway- there martial artist. Or even the image of a shining princess in a bridal gown. Rather, he saw a girl, fourteen years of age, and crying. He shook his head to clear the image, and continued eating. Once finished, he dropped his chopsticks abruptly on the table and left without a word. Akane's eyes pierced his back as he went upstairs. She turned back to her own food, eating slower than before.  
  
'Somehow,' she thought moodily, 'This is my fault.'  
  
It was only a half hour later when Akane found her fiancée sitting on the roof. He was just sitting up there, staring at the stars. Things hadn't been very exciting lately, and Akane half-wondered if Ranma would wish them to be so. More than three months had passed since the incidents at Jusendo, since the failed wedding and near-broken hearts.  
  
"Mind if I join you?" Akane asked. Her fiancée didn't even look her way, but made some semblance of an affirmative grunt. Akane flopped down beside him, closer than she normally sat, but comfortable nonetheless. She too, stared at the stars silently a while, waiting for Ranma to speak. What was on his mind?  
  
"I guess we really don't know each other all that well, do we?" Ranma finally asked, a low whisper in his voice. He still didn't look in Akane's direction. He couldn't look at her-he was afraid he'd see a crying girl again, or worse, his 17-year old fiancée, the same tears in her eyes as the visionary girl he'd imagined earlier. Unable to fight, afraid and useless? Those words just didn't describe Akane. He couldn't imagine that they ever could.  
  
"Heh. I met you just over two years ago, Ranma. I still don't know you as well as I'd like." Akane chuckled. Before, a new past enemy, fiancée, or some person or another came to pick a fight, wreak havoc, or cause property damage. All were related, one way or another, to Ranma's still-shady past. He'd spent 10 years on the road, and Akane barely knew how that experience had been, save a few major incidents.  
  
Ranma finally dared to look at his fiancée, and was relieved when his eyes stayed sober, and saw Akane for who she really was. At least in his eyes, she was strong, iron-willed, wonderfully emotional, and. and very.  
  
'Beautiful.' Ranma dared himself to think. Yes, she was. But that. that beauty had been defiled by some disgusting, desperate pervert, years ago. The arguments he didn't wish to remember came back in loud-speaker, echoing in Ranma's mind.  
  
You're not exactly some pure and innocent saint you know!  
  
. You don't know what you're talking about, you pervert! You don't even know me!  
  
SLAP!   
  
  
  
You have no right to tell me what I can and can't-  
  
Just like YOU don't have any right to tell me! You're not my mother, and you're not my sister! You're nothing to me Ranma! NOTHING!  
  
  
  
Ranma winced at the latter memory. She meant something to him. It had taken him long enough to figure out what that something was, let alone the time it would take him to voice those feelings. He had been so close, so many times. But did he mean anything to her? Anything at all?  
  
"Akane.?" Ranma began tentatively, searching for the right words. He flustered when Akane looked at him, a genuine smile on her face.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Uh. are. are we friends?" Ranma asked slowly, almost afraid of the answer.  
  
"What a silly question, Ranma!" Akane laughed. "Of course we're friends!" Ranma heaved a silent sigh of relief, staring up and thanking whatever Kamis allowed him to stay in Akane's good favor.  
  
Akane, for her part, was looking wistfully at the stars.  
  
'For so long, I wondered if "friends" was all we were ever going to be. Maybe now I don't doubt that we're friends. but what about more.?'  
  
"I. I know you probably don't want to talk about it. but.?" Ranma prompted. Akane looked at her fiancée, a sad smile on her face.  
  
"You mean about what happened to me?" Akane clarified.  
  
"We-well, uh. yeah, I guess so."  
  
It was only natural for him to want to know, Akane surmised. Maybe he did care. Was this a sign?  
  
"Well. it all started this one night in late winter. heh. I'll never forget the day. It was January 17th."  
  
**************************************************************************** ********  
  
End of Part 1: Mist  
  
Onwards to Part 2:Fog  
  
What's with the names, "Mist" and "Fog"? Well, I got the titles from this time when I was looking at my shadow, and it looked as though I had four different hands. Each hand was a shadow in a different shade of gray. Now I don't happen to have my Crayola Crayons ® or anything handy, so I'm just calling them by the levels of gray I associate them with.  
  
MIST  
  
FOG  
  
You'll find out the others later! ^.~  
  
All smiles and many mysteries,  
  
Azurite 


	2. Fog

Four Shades of Gray  
  
Part 2: Fog  
  
A Ranma ½ Fanfiction by Azurite  
  
sailor_andromida@yahoo.com  
  
http://www.geocities.com/azurite_moon  
  
11.18.01 - Total layout update coming soon!  
  
Got updates? azurite_updates@yahoogroups.com  
  
Total Pages: 3  
  
Please note: This fanfiction contains some realistic portrayals of sexual activity, but is in NO way a lemon. It is a highly dramatic, angst-scented fic. and a romance in the future. Just to warn you. It is rated PG-13. If you're not mature and/or under 13, please do not read this. Domo.  
  
"Spoken"  
  
Remembered/Emphasized  
  
'Thought'  
  
Emphasized  
  
YELLED  
  
**************************************************************************** **********  
  
Recap:  
  
In the last chapter, we found out that Akane, when she was 14 years old, was a victim of rape. Obviously, this startling information surprises her friends, but Ranma is the most surprised of all. Unable to cope with the facts, he decides to ask her about what happened while they are sitting together on the roof one night. Akane says she remembers the day perfectly, much to her dismay. one January 17th.  
  
**************************************************************************** **********  
  
Akane Tendo, aged 14, was trudging her way through drifts and drifts of snow. She was chattering horribly, and holding her thick wool jacket over her junior high's skimpy uniform. Winter or no, it was no help. Akane was only getting wetter, not to mention colder.  
  
"S-shou-ulda j-j-just g-gone home." Akane whispered to herself, in a desperate attempt to keep her lips warm. She'd stayed an extra two hours afterschool to work in the Home Economics kitchen. Since Kasumi had "gently" told her a week and a half ago that her cooking would surely destroy the kitchen and give food poisoning to their "poor, old father," she'd been forbidden back into her own home's kitchen. So she had to practice her cooking at school. She did so without permission, because the school's teachers knew just as well as Kasumi that Akane had a black thumb in the kitchen.  
  
In any case, Akane had paid no heed to the earlier weather warnings of at least a foot of snow, and a potential blizzard warning. She was intent on proving her family wrong before Christmas-and cooking them a delicious meal. Or at the very least, she amended, a nice dessert.  
  
But of course, whatever cooking Kamis Akane needed to pray to had ignored the youngest Tendo once more. She'd spent more time cleaning up her messes than cooking.  
  
"M-Maybe I'm dys-dys-lexic or something. I just can't read recipes right." Akane sighed. She had to be the only one insane enough to be outside in a blizzard. If there was anyone else out here, it was impossible to see them.  
  
"Akane?"  
  
The aforementioned girl turned around, but saw no one. When she finally saw a figure emerging from the constant whiteout of snow, she managed a squeak-like gasp.  
  
"U-Umada-kun!" Akane's crush since her first year of junior high was standing there-right before her. Just like that. Was this a dream?  
  
Akane tried to pinch herself through her layers of clothing, but was unable to. Instead, she stood rigidly still, a goofy smile on her face, blushing as red as a tomato. Not to mention freezing cold.  
  
"What are you doing here in the cold?" Umada asked. He smiled at her, and Akane swore the snow beneath her feet melted and soaked its way through her socks. Before she realized he was beside her, his arm was around her, guiding her away from the heavy snows.  
  
Akane was more giddy than she could possibly express. Her thoughts were running amok in her head, dancing gleefully.  
  
'Umada-kun! The silent, handsome guy that a lot of girls want. he doesn't talk to anyone, let alone touch them, but me! He's with me!'  
  
Umada Hisarushi was his name, and he just happened to be in Akane's class. Every year since the start of junior high, and now, in their final year, he was here.  
  
Before Akane realized it, she and Umada were standing in the lobby of a large apartment complex.  
  
"Na-nani? Where are we?" Akane looked around in awe. The place had to be three times as big as the entire Tendo compound, and maybe if she'd been paying attention outside, she would have seen how tall the building was.  
  
"This is home." Umada said simply, flashing Akane a smile that caused her to shiver deliciously to her toes. Akane followed Umada without a second thought, staring at everything she passed, wondering just how rich Umada's parents had to be to afford a place like this.  
  
They were in the elevator for a short while before they got off and walked down a dismal, gray hall. They came to an apartment -number 2131- and stepped inside once Umada unlocked the door.  
  
She wasn't cold anymore, but rather embarassed. The chatters that had plagued Akane earlier were back now, though more out of embarrassment than hypothermia.  
  
"Th-Thank you. I mean, you didn-didn't have to b-bring me here."  
  
"Are you cold?" Umada asked concernedly. Without a second thought, he removed her wet, wool coat, and set it over a wind-vent heater. Akane felt strangely naked, but shook the odd feeling off. Umada was her classmate, for Kami's sake. Sure, he was cute, and horribly popular with a good number of girls, including Akane herself, but.  
  
In any case, Akane felt like the luckiest girl alive, just to have been able to speak to him for a straight minute, let alone be in his house.  
  
Time seemed to be out of warp for the Tendo girl, embarassed and as giddy as she was in her crush's presence. She was sitting on the couch, admiring all the furniture, electronics, and fine décor of the apartment when Umada handed her a cup of hot cocoa.  
  
"I hope you like cocoa." He smiled, and Akane nodded, averting her gaze for fear he might see her blush.  
  
Outside, the storm was worsening. Some tiny part in the deep, deep parts of Akane's subconscious reminded her that she had to get home somehow, or at the very least, call Kasumi. But what would she say, "Hey sis, I'm staying at my crush's house?" No, she couldn't do that.  
  
Akane finished her cocoa and wanted to smile at Umada to thank him, but became flustered when she realized how close he was to her face. Her heart started racing at what felt like inhuman speeds. His eyes met hers dead-on, and the tomato-red blush that had masked Akane's face earlier was back on once more.  
  
The room seemed unearthly silent for what felt like an eternity to Akane, but then, Umada stirred. Akane would have gasped, had her lips not been covered by his.  
  
'He-He-Umada's kissing me!'  
  
The thought sank in, and like a dizzying drug, Akane kissed him back. Her arms went around him almost automatically, and she warmed a good five degrees when Umada returned the gesture in kind, letting his fingers play in her long hair.  
  
It wasn't just Akane that seemed to heat up, however. The whole room seemed to become a dizzying mirage of heat waves. Akane had never, ever, ever felt this way before, and wasn't exactly sure how to react to this kind of intimate attention. The part of her once yelling to go home was now screaming in her ear. Her heart was racing, her mind working out the tiny details of what was going on at a snail's pace.  
  
So out of it was she that she didn't register being brought to Umada's bedroom, or her shirt being removed. His lips graced her neck, her cheek, her brow. Lower still, to her collarbone, and each of her breasts.  
  
"U-Umada." Akane whispered. This wasn't supposed to be happening!  
  
But these thoughts, these worries, these. foolish concerns were gone with the snowdrifts. Akane didn't know how she knew, but she just did-this was right. It was only after the fact. after the intense pain and struggle. that she dared to doubt herself.  
  
**************************************************************************** **********  
  
When Akane got home much later that night-after 10:00, she was dazed and unsure of herself, or her surroundings. She practically tripped into her own house, forgetting to take off her wet and slush-covered shoes.  
  
Her older sister, Nabiki, was the first to approach her. Nabiki looked startled to see her sister so out of it, and had a sinking sensation in her chest.  
  
'What happened to her.?'  
  
  
  
Ranma listened to Akane and then glanced at her when she trailed off. She pinched her eyes shut, and shook her head slowly.  
  
"I could have fought back, but I. I chose not to. For the longest time, I convinced myself that protecting Umada was the right thing to do, but when I realized what he had done to me. that I was some pawn in his sick game. I told Nabiki. She got in contact with a counselor at Furinkan, and called the police. Umada was arrested, even though he was a minor at the time, and I haven't seen him since."  
  
"Were. were you in love with him?" Ranma asked. He wanted to hit himself on the head for that. But he didn't know what else to say. A girl he thought he knew. wasn't. She'd had something very precious taken away from her, and she lived, scarred with memories.  
  
"I thought I was. I don't know. I'm just a gullible, kawaiikune. idiot, I guess. I don't deserve. oh, never mind." Akane stood up and slipped down the ladder back into the house. Ranma stared at the space where she had been and shook his head. He really didn't know her. not at all.  
  
**************************************************************************** *******  
  
The story behind "Mist" and "Fog:"  
  
The term "Gray Area" refers to a situation, time, or place, when things aren't what they seem. The rules don't always apply, and things are unknown. The first stage of this "gray area" is Mist: mysterious and unknown, shrouding something much deeper.  
  
Fog is the second stage, revealing that there is, indeed, a deeper secret. One that must be forged through to reach the lighter stages. But every step is a journey in itself, and Ranma and Akane both have a ways to go, in facing her past. together.  
  
Part 3: Shadows 


End file.
